The Twitter Boycott

Twitter is in trouble with their Tweeters.  Threat of abuse, rape, and even death can be shoved onto anyone in cyberland without any repercussion to the oppressor.  If Facebook notices any discourtesy of the sort, they will take down your account.  Twitter feminist journalist Caitlin Moran lead a 24-hour boycott of the social media site yesterday 8/5/2013.  The Twitter boycott was held to show the support for women who have been targeted by these threats.
Bomb threats to journalists have been the main target for this abuse.  The suspected reason is because there are a certain type of men who can’t stand to see women in the public eye.  These men feel helpless and obviously insecure about their own accomplishments so they discredit women by making sexual and violent threats against them.

Targeted Women

Among the targeted women of these scandalous threats is Mary Beard.  Mary Beard received a tweeted bomb threat from her twitter feed stating she would be blown up.  The victims have been advised to contact the police of these threats.  Two men have been arrested in connection with these crimes.
Del Harvey, Twitter’s UK General Manager, posted a promise of action on the Twitter UK blog.

The archaeologist and television presenter Tony Pollard wrote: “#twittersilence? No way! NEVER give bullies dead air – it gives their fist more velocity. Talk & keep talking. That’s empowerment. Rave on!”

Women shouldn’t be subject to this kind of violence, especially over the media. With the Bob Filner lawsuit going on, women are exasperated with such violence that is being infringed on them.

To Tweet or not to Tweet

Some are saying not to boycott Twitter , instead Tweet because voices should be heard.   You have to NOT do something instead of doing it!  If you don’t want to be silent then tweet, says Simone De Beauvior.
To tweet or not to tweet, Twitter has been awakened to this situation and they know something has to be done.  We are not going to stand for it, as a community we will fight for what we believe in and letting others bully and threat us is not in the cards.
The boycott has already worked, the 24-hour boycott has made talk worldwide.  With Tweeters, once they start talking, they can’t stop…


References:
Mary Beard is latest woman to be sent bomb threat on Twitter – The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/04/mary-beard-bomb-threat-twitter
August 4, 2013
Twitter boycott is my small symbolic gesture against online misogyny – The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/04/twitter-boycott-gesture-online-misogyny
August 4, 2013
The Twitter Boycott: All Your Questions Answered – Marie Claire UK
http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/543850/the-twitter-boycott-everything-you-need-to-know.html

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